<h2>Translation Proxy Server</h2>
by <i>Cesar Gonzalez <icesar@gmail.com></i><p>

<h3>DESCRIPTION</h3>

This web application implements a transparent proxy interface to the World Wide Lexicon (WWL) API, which is an online translation memory.  The idea behind the proxy is to give the webmaster a simple interface to implement translations of their website into any desired language, simply by pointing a language code subdomain (eg. http://es.mywebsite.com/) at a server where this proxy code is running.  There are several distinct advantages to using this method to translate your website:

<ul>
<li>Simplicity. Install the proxy (or use ours), change one A-record, tweak some setting, and presto!</li>
<li>Standard URL structure. For any page on your site, you know exactly how to access that page in any available language.</li>
<li>SEO & indexability.  Many translation tools are javascript-based, which means the search engines will not index your content in other languages.  Using the WWL proxy, you have the option of making your content searchable in other languages.</li>
<li>Supports any combination of machine translation, community generated translations, and professional translation agencies.</li>
<li>Works with any HTML compatible web server. No software to install on your original website.</li>
<li>Fast. In memory caching (memcached) for fast page delivery.</li>
</ul>

<h3>QUICK START</h3>

Installing and using the translation proxy server is easy. Just perform the following tasks:<p>

<ol><li><a href=http://code.google.com/p/worldwidelexicon>Download the PHP code</a></li>
<li>Install the code on a web server that has PHP installed</li>
<li>Map several domains to this server, such as fr.yoursite.com</li>
<li>Go to fr.yoursite.com to view it in French.</li>
<li>Repeat as needed for other languages, where __.yoursite.com is a 2 or 3 letter ISO language code</li>
</ol>

<h3>REQUIREMENTS</h3>

<ul>
<li>PHP 5  (Tested on PHP 5.1.6)</li>
<li>cURL   (libcurl/7.15.5)</li>
<li>Memcache *recommended* (v 2.2.3)</li>
</ul>

<h3>NEW RELEASE</h3>

We are currently preparing a new release of the proxy server, due for release with the launch of our open translation
community. The new release includes a number of new features, including:

<ul>
<li>Support for right to left scripts</l1>
<li>Support for more character encodings beyond UTF8</li>
<li>Client side translation rendering, to quickly load and render translations for infrequently loaded pages</li>
<li>Tag based controls enable you to alter proxy server behavior by embedding tags in your pages</li>
<li>Batch translation and improved caching to further boost performance</li>
</ul>

On a related note, we are also working on an Apache module which will provide the same functionality, except embedded in
the webserver itself. If you are hosting a site or web app based on Apache, this will be an easy way to add on the fly
translation.
